1. Field
The water-saving manual toilet flapper valve is a part of the field of toilet flushing systems and is a design that improves on the standard toilet flapper valve in that it conserves a significant amount of water by giving the user the ability to manually select how much water they use to flush the toilet.
2. Prior Art
A standard toilet system on the market today uses a flushing system with a very basic toilet flapper valve that is installed in the toilet tank portion of a toilet. The tank holds approximately 3 to 8 gallons of water when it is filled before it is automatically flushed away by a user. In order to flush a conventional toilet, a toilet flush handle must be depressed so that a linkage chain connected to the toilet flapper valve causes the toilet flapper to be pulled into an upwards position away from a valve seat located at the bottom of the toilet tank. This allows the water to quickly exit the tank and enter the toilet bowl. This quick transfer of water into the toilet bowl causes any waste product that was deposited into the toilet bowl to be flushed away into a collection system. Such collection systems include a septic tank or a sewage system. After the water is released, the toilet flushing system refills the toilet tank with water so that it will become available again.
One problem with conventional toilet flapper valves is that they do not allow for a manual flush. Once the toilet flush handle is depressed in a conventional automatic toilet flushing system, the toilet flapper valve opens and fills with air. It will remain floating in an upwards position due to the buoyancy of the toilet flapper valve's hollow body design. This forces the user to always flush the full contents of water in the toilet bowl each time the toilet flush handle is depressed. This equates to about 3 to 8 gallons of water being flushed away every time, no matter how little waste is deposited in the toilet bowl. This results in a large scale amount of water consumed each year by millions of people all around the world. Large amounts of clean water are therefore unnecessarily washed away with even the smallest of waste deposited in the toilet bowl.
Previously proposed weighted toilet flapper valve designs have shown to be unsuccessful since these designs have several inherent flaws. One of the major flaws of many proposed weighted toilet flapper valves is that they lack a protruding flange design. Lack of this flange design prevents the toilet flapper valve from creating a true positive seal with the valve seat of the toilet tank. Another inherent flaw of previous weighted toilet flapper valves is that they lack sufficient weighted mass in order to maintain a positive seal with the valve seat over time when toilet flapper valves are subject to warping. Insufficient mass will allow water to slowly drip through the seal of the toilet flapper valve and the valve seat, creating significant amounts of water loss and expenses. Overall, the problem with previously proposed weighted toilet flapper valve designs is that although many are labeled as “water-saving,” the truth is that these toilet flapper valves compromise the idea of saving water since they are subject to water leakage over time as described above. An example of such a weighted design is U.S. Pat. No. 5,117,514 (issued to Robert Richter on Jun. 2, 1992).
3. Advantages
The water-saving manual toilet flapper valve is designed to conserve a considerable amount of water by using a solid inner core and a weighted mass retained securely within the inner core. The weighted mass and the solid inner core securing the weighted mass are both housed inside a flange body of the toilet flapper valve. The toilet flapper valve is reinforced with radially extending reinforcing fins attached to a rounded flat section of the toilet flapper valve. The reinforcing fins allow the rounded flat section to remain flat, thus preventing the toilet flapper valve from warping. As an added benefit the reinforcing fins help support the weight of the toilet flapper valve.
There are no air pockets contained in this improved toilet flapper valve design. The solid inner core coupled with the weighted mass results in a toilet flapper valve that has a non-buoyant body design. This non-buoyant design does not force the toilet flapper valve to remain in the upward position when the toilet flush handle is depressed. Instead, the toilet flapper valve will sink toward the valve seat when the toilet flush handle is released. This allows the user to manually select how much water is being flushed away by depressing the toilet flush handle for a desirable amount of time; more specifically, a short flush interval is used for liquid waste, and a full flush interval for solid waste.
The user will be in control of how much water they use for each flush. This will not only save the user on water costs but in turn will equate to a huge impact in water conservation. It is estimated that flushing toilets alone account for up to 40% of a family's water bill alone. This improved toilet flapper valve design will greatly reduce these water costs. This improved flapper valve design will also directly impact users with septic tank systems. The user will save time and money on costly septic tank pumping and maintenance since less water is used for every toilet flush. This adds up to significant savings in water and costs every year.
The water-saving manual toilet flapper valve improves upon previous weighted toilet flapper valve designs by allowing the flapper body to make a positive seal with the valve seat of the toilet bowl. This prevents any water leakage from occurring. The flange body design of the water-saving manual toilet flapper valve acts as a flange to create a strong positive seal with the valve seat. This improved toilet flapper valve design is also heavier than previous weighted flapper designs, which also helps create a leak-proof seal that will not leak or warp over time.